What Facial Eczema Says About Your Health

No matter how itchy or painful eczema on other parts of your body is, having it on your face may have the most impact on your life.

You cannot hide your condition under your clothes and you cannot retreat away from the world. It fills you with dread and non-stop worry.

This worry and constant stress takes it toll on your life, but you may not yet be motivated to. It is very important that you find a way to cure your eczema because facial eczema is often a sign of greater health problems.

No matter how much stress your eczema puts on your body, you will be in greater misery once the other symptoms of poor health begin to manifest.

Your skin is your body’s largest organ. Like any other organ, if your health is compromised the organ function is compromised. The skin on your face is some of the thinnest and most delicate on your entire body.

Furthermore, it is most exposed to the elements and other influences which accelerate the deterioration of healthy skin cells. Often, any chronic health problem will first manifest itself on your facial skin.

Sometimes it manifests through discoloration or acne, but most often it is in the form of eczema. If you can treat the fundamental problem, you can correct the eczema.

Transepidermal Water Loss And Hydration

As you know, eczema often occurs because of a severe drying of the skin. What you may not know is that your skin is suffering from a fundamental loss of its natural moisture. This is a condition called Transepidermal Water Loss, or TEWL.

TEWL is a scientific term for the unexplained loss of water from the deeper skin layers. In thin areas of your skin, like your face, the skin dries out very quickly and the water drains away.

In the lower portions of your body, the skin dries out but you may also see puffiness where the water pools under the skin. This is wasted water that does not nourish your skin or the rest of your body.

The problem with TEWL is that your skin may not be the only part of your body losing water. Your skin shows the dehydration first in the form of eczema.

However, it is also very likely that your internal organs and other vital parts are also losing the essential water you need to thrive. Most eczema therapy programs you see will recommend drinking plenty of water.

However, to make up for this fundamental water loss you will need to consume more than twice the water consumed by a person without eczema.

Cortisol And Stress Management

Cortisol is a very interesting hormone when it comes to eczema. It is a steroid that is often synthesized artificially to produce a topical ointment. Cortisol creams are one of the most common medically prescribed external eczema treatments.

Internally, it is a whole different story. When your body is under stress for any reason, it releases adrenaline to keep up the energy levels needed.

It makes your metabolism and endocrine system work overtime. To counteract the adrenaline, your body produces cortisol. It slows down all of your bodily functions, including your immune system.

Typically, this is a short term process to deal with acute stress and the body quickly returns to normal function. In these busy modern times, it seems that acute stress has been replaced with chronic, never-ending stress.

As you probably already know, immune malfunction is one of the primary causes of eczema. Unfortunately, eczema is only the first symptom and you will get increasingly unhealthy as the problem continues.

Until your chronic stress can be dealt with, your immune system will continue to suffer and you will be plagued with eczema on your face and, eventually, other parts of your body.

Many eczema experts will tell you that stress intervention must be a part of your anti-eczema therapies or you will never really eradicate the problem.

Not To Be Taken Lightly

These are just two examples of why having eczema on your face can be a sign of something far worse. There are countless other serious conditions that often manifest themselves as eczema.

If you have been “dealing” with your eczema, it is time for you to confront the problem, and its root cause, head on.